They left the plaza by using a supply truck as an improvised ramp. At that point, the rail security capsules missed their trail, but other pursuers kept joining the chase at every passing moment.
Hirsen’s landing pad, which had been Krieger’s beforehand, could be accessed from the city’s maintenance tunnels hidden near the automated factories at one end of the city.
“It’s like they know where we’re headed,” Lotti commented as she gestured at a new batch of rail capsules.
“Hands on the wheel, please,” said Hirsen. He didn’t bother to confirm or deny Lotti’s suspicions, but as the gangers approached the tunnels, it was true that the number of pursuers rose.
A ganger’s hovercycle exploded when it was swarmed by tacks waiting for them at the turn of a corner. Lotti roared in rage and surprise as the flames hid the corpse from her sight. There was no time to mourn or search revenge, though, because sniper fire peppered the road and the walls of the nearby buildings. Pedestrians turned and ran at the sudden firefight, and drivers abandoned their cars to seek refuge.
“Just keep going, you’ll never hit them!” Hirsen exclaimed when Lotti and several gangers tried to shoot the snipers hidden in the rooftops without stopping to aim.
“They’re killing us!” Lotti snapped back. Another ganger fell, this one close to Lotti’s spot in the formation.
“We’re almost there!”
A drone snapped past Hirsen’s shoulders and floated a meter above the ground, its taser aimed at Lotti. Hirsen drew his gun and shot him down.
“You almost deafened me!” Lotti complained as they passed near the drone’s wreckage.
“Be thankful. Hundreds of years ago, gunshots would’ve ruptured your ear drums,” Hirsen said. “They were much louder back then.”
“I don’t give a proper damn what happened hundreds of years ago, don’t shoot next to my ear again or I’ll wear your balls as earrings!”
So this is why I never had any children. Good call with the sterilization, Newgen. I forgive you for that one.
“We’re here,” said Hirsen. He pointed at a newly visible blockade about five hundred meters away. AlSec and the enforcers had poured in the effort for this one, almost directly cutting the gangers from the tunnels.
“Stupendous. How are we supposed to get past that?” Lotti muttered. She gestured at her gangers to take a nearby corner so they could regroup without giving their pursuers time to catch up with them.
“They’re defending the landing pad,” Hirsen explained. “We can’t bypass them, Lotti. We have to fight.”
They left the hovercraft lying against a wall. Nerd jumped off of his and rushed to Lotti.
“Boss, what are we doing? The capsules are only minutes away!”
“The landing pad’s access is behind the blockade,” Hirsen explained.
“So you say,” Lotti told him, eyes narrowed.
“Either you believe me, or you surrender to the enforcers,” said Hirsen. Without waiting for an answer, he jogged his way to the corner of the street and took a peek at what they faced.
At least three dozen security, ten enforcers. Five patrols blocking the street and serving as improvised cover. Two automated turrets, a flock of drones hovering over it all, like vultures waiting for the feast after the carnage.
They outnumbered the gangers two-to-one, and had better weapons, better armor, and better training.
“Shit,” said Nerd, who had scurried next to Hirsen and reached his same conclusion. “We’re going to die.”
“Like hell we will,” said Lotti. “Everyone, hop on again, we’ll look for another way in.”
“There is none!” Hirsen said. “I know the zone, Lotti. The pad is in enforcer turf, that’s why they’re waiting for us here.”
Major Strauze probably waited behind one of those mirrored helmets.
“You—!” Lotti said, eyes blazing, lips twitching with fear and fury.
“Damn it all, Isabella, I know it’s shitty, but did you think escaping out of Dione was going to be easy?”
She closed her fists and looked away. Hirsen knew she was looking for a third option, one that didn’t involve getting torn to shreds by a hail of bullets.
Hirsen knew of one solution. But he couldn’t say it aloud, or she’d definitely kill him. The gangers had to reach it on their own.
Perhaps with a bit of gentle nudging in the right direction.
“There’s an alleyway near the back of this street that brings us to a side of the blockade. It’s a kill-zone. If we all get through it, the enforcers will mow us down without issue. If they weren’t paying attention, though, a couple of us could use it to set up a flank.”
“A flank with only two people? It’ll do jack to change the result,” said Lotti.
Hirsen shared a look with Nerd, making sure that Lotti didn’t see it.
“Maybe,” Hirsen told Nerd, quietly, so no one else heard, “the distraction could let someone escape. Someone you care about.”
Nerd blinked, soaking up the meaning of the agent’s words. Sirens roared in the distance, the noise growing with every second.
“Is there really a ship?” Nerd asked.
“Yes,” Hirsen said. “I’ve no intention of dying here.”
“You’ll get her to the EIF.”
“Yes. They’ll protect her. More than that. She’s like royalty. She’ll be safe with them.” If they’re still alive. Whatever had been the result of Clarke’s fight with the Defense Fleet, Hirsen wouldn’t know the result until he tried to contact the EIF. The news weren’t saying anything, and they wouldn’t until some higher-up wrote their piece for them.
“So, it’s true? She really is Isabella Reiner. She should be older, right?”
“I’m still figuring that one out.” Hirsen glanced at the gangers, many of which had taken to trading potshots with the blockade with little avail. “You’ll have to convince them about her identity, though. Make them fight for her. No way I can get her to the ship without a big enough distraction. And, to be honest…there’s not enough space inside.”
“Damn, and you never told us?” Nerd laughed bitterly. “That’s devious of you, Delagarza…No, it’s Hirsen, right? You’d have made for a terrible ganger, I think. No sense of loyalty at all. Well, let me tell you something about gangers, mister space ninja. We do know what loyalty is. There’s no need to convince us to die for Isabella Reiner. We’d die for our Boss any day.”
Hirsen smiled and stepped back. His job was done.
Lotti stopped firing at the blockade. “What are you two talking about?”
Without answering her, Nerd reached the gangers and gestured to claim their attention. “Listen, my boys! Our regular friend Delagarza can get our Boss past the blockade. They’ll need a distraction, though, a prim and proper ruckus, I say! AlSec’s hot on our asses and we’ll be spit-roasted between them and the enforcers anyway, so I say we go out there and buy our Boss some space!”
That earned the ganger’s attention.
“Nerd, shut up!” Lotti said, paling as she realized her friend’s plan.
“We’ll get slaughtered out there,” a ganger pointed out. It didn’t deter Nerd one bit.
“Haven’t you heard, boys and girls? The entire Edge will pay attention to what happens today. They’ll see our humble selves, making a grandiose last stand against tyranny or whatever the fuck! They’re heroes, those regular boys and girls, they’ll say! What brave, loyal warriors, those gangers! What colorful fighting spirit—let’s make movies about them! We’ll make it spectacular, boys and girls, we’ll give them something to remember!”
All the gangers surrounded Lotti and Nerd now, their gazes shifting between the two of them. The sirens’ wail was almost deafening now.
“Hell yes,” someone said. “Let’s do it, Nerd, you’ve got style!”